Chapter 2 Retribution

  Fang Ming stood by, watching the scattered incense on the ground with a cold eye, as the surrounding voices of discussion gradually rose, and even the helpless Qi couple, couldn't help but sneer.

  A god-like ruler is one who combines kindness and severity; without both, it is impossible to govern the people.

  The self-alignment of the couple has been repeatedly mentioned, and now it's just a threat from a vagabond that makes Qi Da's heart waver. Qi Da's faith line is already faintly visible, close to breaking.

  If he doesn't settle the matter quickly, after handing over the money to Wang Er, he will inevitably harbor resentment. The ridiculous thing is that he won't resent Wang Er. He will only hate himself for not getting revenge on Wang Er, which made him lose fifty cents, but forget who gave him one hundred cents!

  It just so happens that recently I was thinking of finding someone to make an example out of, and using both kindness and severity is the way of kings. This will let the villagers know about the power of divine retribution, deepen their faith, and prevent them from betraying easily. And then Wang Er came along, isn't this fate?

  And yet, there might be someone behind Wang Er's back! Hmph!

  The villagers dispersed to work in the fields, as it was spring plowing season. Farmers spent most of their time in the fields, aside from sacrificing, eating and sleeping, which is the lifeline for the whole year.

  They are mostly tenant farmers. If the harvest is not good, they will inevitably be forced to pay debts by the landlord, and at that time, it is possible to sell their children or sell their ancestral land, which will lead to bankruptcy.

  Fang Ming strolled around the village at will, occasionally looking down at the ground, searching for small objects.

  Before I knew it, I arrived at the fields and saw farmers busy sowing spring crops, tending to the land, sweating profusely with no time to wipe it away, letting it drip onto the earth.

  Fang Ming silently watched, and couldn't help but think of a phrase: "The sun beats down at noon, sweat drips onto the soil beneath the crops." This phrase conveys the hardships of farmers, and now, looking from another perspective, it's even more poignant.

  He was a ghost at this time and wasn't afraid of being discovered. He approached an old farmer, looked closely, and found that the agriculture in this world had already reached a fairly advanced level, comparable to that of the Song Dynasty.

  Suddenly, I saw a transparent gray shadow in the distance and knew it was also a ghost, so I leaned over.

  Only two ghosts were seen, both dressed as farmers. One was chasing and the other was fleeing. The one who fled was an ordinary-looking young man, frantically "fleeing wildly". The big man who chased had a ferocious face, like an evil ghost, and after catching up with the young man, he directly pounced on him and bit him.

  The youth dissipated like smoke after being bitten, while the big man swallowed with a big mouth, extremely satisfied. The scattered smoke took advantage of the situation to transform into a youth again, only more disordered than before, barely human in shape.

  At this time, seeing Fang Ming, he shouted: "Brother, run quickly, this man bites people when he sees them, he's gone mad!"

  The Great Han finished swallowing and turned his head to look around. His eyes shone with a fierce light, and when he saw Fang Ming, he was overjoyed and rushed up to him.

  Fang Ming had been quietly cultivating his divine power for the past few days, and he had already gained some insight into its usage and transformations. He was eager to try it out, and at this moment, he was not afraid. With a movement of his heart, a thread of divine power transformed into white light, enveloping his entire body.

  The big man had just stepped forward when he was suddenly sent flying by a burst of white light, letting out a series of miserable cries. Fang Ming walked up to him and stepped on the big man's body with his foot. Seeing that the big man was only madly roaring without any sign of consciousness, like a wild beast, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. With a flash of white light from the sole of his foot, the big man let out another miserable cry and turned into black smoke.

  At this time, the white light was also exhausted. Fang Ming nodded lightly and knew that a thread of white divine power could only support the battle for about thirty breaths. He didn't know if eliminating the ghost had any effect, so he thought about it and continued to experiment.

  The young man came forward with a timid and shrinking manner, saying: "Just now that seemed to be the protective divine light of a living person, why do you have it, brother?"

  "Oh, the protective divine light, I didn't know, it's just that I've done many good deeds in front of me, and now I have this merit to protect my body."

  The thing about the land contract is Fang Ming's biggest secret, of course it can't be said. In his heart, he thought that the Land God was also known as the God of Fortune and Virtue, wasn't it a blessing to have merit and protection? This doesn't count as deceiving you.

  But his heart skipped a beat, and he had even more suspicions about the village's altar.

  He chatted with the young man for a while and soon extracted quite a bit of information from him.

  This young man's name was Zhao Xin, the son of the village head of a neighboring village. He had been quite liked since childhood and had read several books. Unfortunately, he died two days ago due to illness, leaving behind his loved ones. However, he was driven out of the village by a white light, fortunately not encountering the grand ceremony on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, otherwise his soul would have dispersed on the spot.

  At the village entrance, waiting for his father, who would have thought that the other party would actually ignore him. Only then did he realize that humans and ghosts are on different paths, and even if they get close, they will be bounced back by a white light. He remembered a travelogue that mentioned "the living have a protective aura that can keep them safe and avoid evil spirits." At the time, he thought it was just a joke, but now he realizes what's true and what's false.

  The young man wandered aimlessly and inadvertently entered an old forest, where he saw the big man devouring another ghost. After being discovered, he was chased all the way to this place.

  At this time, the relationship between the two had become close, and Fang Ming asked: "Why did that big man become like this, do you know?"

  "It seems like in order to live a few more days, they started living extravagantly, but once they started, they couldn't stop."

  Zhao Xin crouched on the ground, stroking the small grass with his hand, thinking for a moment before saying: "I've read in books that ghosts can rely on yin energy or other ghostly energies to haunt and linger in the world. At this time, they are called fierce ghosts. We must quickly invite a Taoist priest to perform rituals, otherwise, it will become a great disaster. I think he is a fierce ghost."

  Fang Ming nodded in admiration of Zhao Xin's extensive knowledge, and when he asked about current events, Zhao Xin revealed his ignorance. Apart from knowing that it was the ninth year of Yonghe and that they were in Wuzhou Wen Chang Prefecture, he knew nothing else. It turned out that he only liked to read about strange and unusual things, but had no interest in studying orthodox classics, for which he often received criticism from his father.

  Just as Fang Ming was about to exchange a few jokes, a gust of clear wind blew by, and the young man's body suddenly turned into gray smoke, dispersing with the wind.

  Fang Ming was shocked, then fell silent, and suddenly understood that Zhao Xin had been drained of his vitality by the Great Han, leaving him a mere shell. As he gazed at the wisps of smoke, he felt the great terror of this world, and his heart was filled with an indescribable emotion. Suddenly, two lines of tears flowed down his face.

  As night fell, the village became almost silent after dark, and no light was seen.

  At this time, kerosene lamps were used, and kerosene was precious, so they couldn't be used frequently. At that time, farmers worked from dawn to dusk.

  Fang Ming looked around the village, and at this time, there were already layers of gray shadows peeking out to observe, while the altar in the village emitted white light, resisting the ghosts.

  The spirits know and are delighted with the gloomy atmosphere. This is exactly the scene of the hundred ghosts going out at night. Upon closer observation, there are several who are farmers from this village, missing their loved ones and coming to take a look.

  There were also sturdy and arrogant ones, gathering together to charge at the white light. At this time, the white light did not have the powerful might of the grand ceremony, and could only passively repel the ghosts, but the ghosts still persisted, so the white light gradually dimmed.

  But after midnight, there was a change. At first, the ghosts that were bounced off were like being burned by fire and were almost shapeless. Now, the ghosts that were bounced off only stumbled for a moment before pouncing again. Fang Ming furrowed his brow; these ghostly attacks seemed to have a hidden pattern. The ghosts that had charged up at first seemed to be the weak and old, but now they were the main force, and his heart skipped a beat.

  These ghosts charged for a whole night, occasionally some of the village's ghostly spirits came to dissuade them, but were immediately knocked down and forced to take the lead; after several charges, they turned into flying smoke. The sight was chilling.

  Fang Ming hid to one side, using a thread of divine power to transform into a stealth technique, secretly spying while finding several lone ghosts to try his hand, knocking them down and forcing them to confess, finally getting to the truth.

  Originally, ghosts are divided into ordinary ghosts, fierce ghosts, evil ghosts, and ghost kings. Ordinary ghosts, if there is no great opportunity, will perish within seven days.

  To live long, there are four ways.

  One is to devour other ghosts, but this method easily leads to losing one's mind and becoming a beast.

  Secondly, it absorbs the vital energy of living people. A living person who loses their vital energy cannot even become a ghost and will disperse into nothingness. However, a ghost can temporarily linger in the mortal realm by relying on this method to preserve its spiritual consciousness. The more human vital energy absorbed, the stronger the ghost becomes, potentially becoming a malevolent spirit that wreaks havoc on rural villages.

  Three is a method of nourishing and refining Qi, finding a place with a quiet atmosphere, practicing diligently, can also be long-lasting.

  Fourth is to become the great ancestor of a large clan, after death there will be descendants or imperial court enfeoffment, from then on becoming an ancestral spirit, merged with the ancestral temple or altar, and as long as the incense fire does not extinguish, one's own self will not perish. Unfortunately, it is impossible to leave the ancestral temple or altar; if the sacrifice is destroyed, then everything will turn to dust and disappear.

  Qingyu Village was built by refugees during the great drought of Yonghe 3 years, with many small families and surnames in the village. There is no unified ancestor, and when worshiping, only the ancestors can be worshipped in general terms, without the ancestral spirit guarding the altar.

  Whether there is an ancestral spirit guarding the altar makes a big difference.

  Those with ancestral spirits can freely mobilize incense and willpower to defend, and can also alert in times of crisis. The villagers' protective aura is automatically replenished when it runs out. Those without can only be passively defended, extremely rigid, and can only be protected during the Grand Festival, making them easy to breach.

  This small altar can only protect against two ghosts, if three ghosts come together, there is no chance of survival, so villagers rarely go out at night and stay home to protect themselves.

  The current gang of ghosts just wants to come and destroy the village, sucking away people's energy.

  The group of ghosts attacked the village and continued until dawn before gradually dispersing. The villagers got up to work in twos and threes, completely unaware that they had just brushed past death.

  Clearly aware, at this speed, the altar will not last until the 15th grand festival, and by then it will be a tragic scene of ghosts washing over the village. This has something to do with him too, he diluted the village's faith, causing the altar's power to weaken day by day.

  But this is also his opportunity.

  Hearing the sudden bursts of screams in the village, he knew that last night's actions had taken effect, and a cold smile spread across his face.

  Last night, he spent ten strands of divine power, which was about half of what he had accumulated. He used the technique of Huang Liang Ru Meng to make Wang Er fall into the eighteen layers of hell in his dream and suffer for a whole ten years, making him weak and depressed. This morning, there must be a great change.

  Last night, Wang Er was possessed by someone and had a dream where two evil ghosts, one black and one white, appeared before him, shouting: "Wang Er, you have offended the Land God, now you will be punished to enter hell for ten years, taste all the cruel punishments of hell, go!" Then they put an iron chain around Wang Er's neck.

  Wang Er thought of resisting, but unexpectedly the strength he had been relying on every day was gone, and he couldn't help but beg for mercy: "Spare my life, spare my life! I won't dare again!"

  "Hei Bai sneered coldly and said: 'You didn't know the gods were watching in your daily life, you dared to offend them, now you finally know there's retribution.'"

  He was dragged down into the underworld and taken to the Department of Hell, where he would enjoy eighteen different kinds of torture. Thus, ten whole years passed.

  Wang Er woke up with a start, looking around at the familiar yet strange surroundings, feeling as if he had been reborn. He struggled to get up, but found his body too weak to move. He crawled to the edge of the water vat and looked in, shocked.

  Only to see the person on the water surface, eyes sunken deeply, hair dry and yellow, face thin, unexpectedly reduced ten or so pounds overnight, whole body weak, thinking of the hardships in the past decade, couldn't help but burst into loud wails.